ut again, carrying between them a long
bundle of blankets lashed from end to end with thin line. They took it
aft along the alloway and out on to the lower deck by the stern. Two
iron doors of a port used for coaling stood open on the starboard side.
On the deck lay a couple of pigs of iron lashed together. These the
captain made fast to one end of the bundle and lifted them towards the
port. Oscarovitch took hold of the other end. They lifted it. The
weights dropped outside the port, and the bundle followed them. The
captain started up, clasped his hands to his forehead, and said in a
gasping whisper:

"Holy God, Highness, what have we done?"

"What do you mean, Derevskin? You have obeyed my orders; that is all. Is
it not enough for you?"

"Yes, Highness--but who or what was that man? Was he really a man?"

"Are you mad, Derevskin?"

"No, Highness, I hope not: but did you hear--or, rather, did you not
hear?"

"What, you fool?"

"He--it--the body--it made no splash when it touched the water!"

The stammered words struck Oscarovitch like so many puffs of frozen air.
No, the body of Franklin Marmion _had_ made no splash. It had vanished
through the port into silence. That was all. He beat back his own terror
with the exertion of all his will-power, and said in a sneering
whisper:

"Derevskin, you are either mad or drunk; but I will forgive you this
time because you have obeyed. Go to bed, and don't forget to be either
sober or sane when I come on deck."

The captain bowed his head, and went forward with shambling steps and
shaking limbs. Oscarovitch closed the port with hands which all his
force could not keep steady, and betook himself to bed, to lie awake for
the rest of the short summer night wondering vainly what really had
happened.

He had had his bath and dressed soon after six, and went on deck. The
captain was on the bridge, and he joined him.

"Good morning, Derevskin!"

"I have the honour to wish Your Highness good morning!"

"Nothing happened during the night worth reporting, I suppose?"

"No, Highness, nothing."

"Very good: but I have slept badly, and you look as if you had been on
the bridge all night. Perhaps it is necessary among all these islands,
and I am pleased that you are so watchful, especially as I have guests
on board. Come down to your room now and send your steward for a bottle.
It will do neither of us any harm."

There was a somewhat lengthy conversation over this early